From where I sit, aka here at my ancient desk in my home office/guest bedroom/cat den, it’s been a stupendous year for new music—and we still have months to go. I’ve obsessed over more than a few releases, playing them again and again (and again, after that), including Anna Graves’ America’s Greatest Burnout, Lillian Leadbetter’s The World to Come, Lucy Rose’s live Union Chapel set, Mikeala Davis’ Graceland Way, and Bella White’s A Sign in the Weather. About the only thing that would make things better: a new Hayley Reardon album.
I can’t say that the folk-flavored singer-songwriter has long been one of my favorites, as I stumbled upon her in 2023, but she’s someone whose songs routinely connect with my soul. Whether she has a new album on the way, I don’t know—but she did release a new single yesterday: a cover of Lyle Lovett’s “If I Had a Boat.” Like the original, it’s a daydream and rumination rolled into one, with wry humor sprinkled in. Reardon’s deft delivery adds a warmth to Lovett’s deadpan original, with the gently surreal lyrics bobbing along like a buoy in the ocean.
The song makes me think of our friends Scott and Rhonda, who don’t have to fantasize about better days afloat—they bought a boat last year. (While they don’t have a pony to bring aboard, they do have two dogs.) They recently launched a YouTube channel about their “adventures,” which thus far have mostly encompassed getting the vessel shipshape.
The Old Grey Cat 